Ted Lupin and the Curse of the Rogue Wizard
by thequillofdreams
Summary: Ted Lupin has never played Guitar in a wizard band, won a dragon tattoo that comes to life, or dated a girl who was part Veela. All Ted knows is a life with werewolves. They send Ted to Hogwarts as a student so they can learn about the castles secrets and take it over from within. Ted is determined to complete his mission, until a Veela named Victoire Weasley shatters his plans.
1. Prologue

Prologue

The full moon rose into the sky. Ted felt the moonlight burn his flesh. He felt his blood boil with rage. He felt his insides painfully churn with a hunger for flesh and a thirst for blood. He felt claws erupt from his hands and feet and tear through his skin. He felt every bone in his body agonizingly contort into a new shape. He was born.

Now every fiber of Ted's being craved flesh and blood. The victim for this full moon was an eager young wizard. He had just finished his schooling, and was excited to start his first job in a lowly position in the Ministry of Magic with a salary of peanuts.

The young and naive always had tasty flesh.

The young man lived in a secluded house with his parents and younger sister. His family was away on a vacation, but Ted's young foolish victim thought that he should stay behind and work to impress his bosses, and maybe get a promotion.

While the victim was away at work Ted had entered his home and saw that it had valuable jewelry that the wife was fond of wearing, an additional treat for Ted when he was finished with the victim.

Yes, this month Ted had found a perfect victim for the full moon.

Ted drew his wand from his robes as he advanced to the house.

For some reason, whenever Ted transformed into a werewolf he still retained some human features. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Ted was a metamorphagus. As a werewolf he could still talk in a husky voice, he could walk on his hind legs and he had opposable thumbs.

At first Greyback was angered by this. When Ted was young he would savagely bite him every full moon to try and fully transform him into a werewolf, but to no avail. But Greyback was a brilliant werewolf. He figured out a way to use Ted's anomaly to his advantage. With the human like features that Ted retained at the full moon he could use magic, which made Ted a great weapon.

Not that a werewolf needed magic to fight. They had enough physical strength to tear the bricks of buildings in half as if they were paper. They had enough speed and stamina to run hundreds of miles in minutes. And they had resistance to many of the curses, jinxes and hexes that wizards commonly used, because most spells were designed to affect humans; therefore they didn't have much of an effect on werewolves. However, if there ever was a need for magic during the full moon Ted could provide it for the army of werewolves.

Ted was also able to keep his mind somewhat human-like during his transformation. He could recognize familiar people and he could form a few human-like thoughts. But mostly his mind was filled with rage, and a desire to tear human flesh, and to feast on it. His vision would be completely tinged with red like the other werewolves on the full moon.

Ted tried to use his ability to form vague human thoughts while in wolf form so that he could steal from his victims. But it was difficult. He would have to focus hard on the thoughts that he wanted to have while in wolf form for the last hours leading up to his transformation.

Before his current transformation all he thought about was stealing whatever he could from the house. Now in wolf form he felt as if he was under water, and from the surface he could barely hear a voice telling him that he must remember to steal all of the valuable things from the house.

Because the other wolves completely lost their minds during their transformations they would only focus on feasting. They would steal for the other 27 days of the moon cycle. Werewolves were never treated as equals by the rest of the wizarding community. The wizards would never give werewolves jobs so the werewolves had no choice but to steal in order to survive.

Ted prepared himself to attack his victim. He knew that a simple shielding charm surrounded the house. He had been watching the house for a week to plan out his attack. As he approached the house he flicked his wand and muttered the counter spell for the shield charm. Then he charged at the house at full force, tearing through the walls with his claws.

The victim stared at Ted in horror. He had been lying on his couch reading a book before Ted burst through his walls. But his horror didn't last. He quickly whipped out his wand and shot a stunning spell at Ted. The spell bounced off of Ted, who barely felt anything. Foolish wizard.

The wizard tried to throw more spells at Ted, each once bouncing off of Ted faster than the last. Ted let out a bark of a laugh. The victim was startled by the laugh.

In a flash Ted was in front of his victim. He threw him against the wall of his house. Ted heard the crunch of his bones as they struck the wall. He leaped forward onto his victim's chest, crushing his ribs.

He tore through the victims flesh with his teeth. The victim's warm pulsating blood gushed into Ted's mouth. Ted chewed his treat slowly. He chewed the scrumptious meat down to the bone. Then he ripped open his arteries and enjoyed the luscious blood.

He continued until the pulsations of the blood entering his mouth slowed down. His victim's life would change forever now. He would wake up as a werewolf in the morning.

Ted readied himself to take his prizes. First he removed the wallet from his victim's pocket. It only had a few galleons and sickles. Ted shoved them in his pocket and dropped the wallet. He headed up the stairs where his victim's mother's jewelry and father's watches were kept. He shoved all of these items in the bag he had brought with him.

He ripped through the entire house looking for more objects to steal. Through the thick water he heard the voice say that he had to take shiny objects. Those were valuable. He couldn't find any until he went to the kitchen. There were many shiny silver objects in there.

When he finished the ransack he heard the voice through the thick waters telling him that it was time for him to go home now. That he should start before the full moon is over because he can run much faster while in wolf form. Though he could run quite fast even in his Wizard form.

On his way home the sun began to rise. The warm rays of the sun soothed his throbbing skin and aching bones as he transformed back to human form. The transformation back into a human somehow wasn't painful like the process of transforming into a wolf was. He took his extra pair of clothes out of his bag and pulled them on, because his clothes would always get torn up during his transformation.

Ted then began his long walk home on two feet.

When Ted reached his home he immediately stashed the objects he had obtained from his victim. He shared an apartment with another werewolf in a muggle apartment building. It was easy to steal money from muggles, so they had no trouble paying the rent of the apartment.

Ted slipped under his blanket. He fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit his pillow. Transforming into a werewolf was exhausting. He slept for the rest of the day.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Ted wake up!" Ted was woken by the voice of his best friend, Liam.

Liam had taken care of Ted for as long as he could remember. Actually he took care of all of the children werewolves. Greyback had assigned him with this job because he was really good with children. He lived in the werewolf headquarters, where Greyback would call all of his followers to discuss all of his plans, and give his orders to the other wolves. The ultimate goal of the werewolves was to build an army of werewolves that was large enough in number to overthrow the wizarding race.

Greyback's main strategy was to kidnap children and teach them the ways of the werewolves, because young children were fast learners. The headquarters were also used as a home for the children werewolves. Liam taught them how to pick pockets because children were good at pickpocketing. He would use the money they earned to buy them food and necessities.

He would also take them to places filled with wizards such as Diagon Alley and teach the children to pickpocket from wizards too. The money they stole would go into Greyback's funds. Greyback would use these funds for any werewolf business that they might be needed for.

There was another wolf that helped Liam take care of the children, named Alistair. Alistair's job was to teach the children how to use magic and how to fight. He was a strict teacher and wouldn't stand any funny business. So naturally he was also in charge of disciplining the children if they misbehaved. It was like a good cop, bad cop kind of situation between Liam and Alistair.

The other wolves who worked for Greyback would rotate the duty of living at the headquarters and taking care of the children. These wolves would spend the rest of their time making ends meet and carrying out other duties for Greyback. No one really liked the duty of watching the kids except for Liam. It was like Liam was born to care for children.

Ted had lived in the headquarters with the other children until the past 2 years. Greyback had decided that Ted was mature enough to live on his own at this point. But Ted had no idea where to go. He was afraid to leave the place where he had grown up. He expressed this to Liam. So Liam found him a place to stay with his good friend, and werewolf, Mark. Ted was so thankful to Liam.

"Nice job looting somebody last night. You got a lot of gold," Liam said. He had found Ted's stash of objects. But Ted didn't care if Liam found it. He knew he could trust Liam not to take anything. "But what's up with all of the forks and spoons you stole? Don't you eat with your hands anyway? Or are you practicing using silverware for your new fancy prancy school? Do you think you're better than us now because you are going to the elite wizarding school?" He hit Ted over the head with a pillow.

"Shut up and let me sleep," Ted mumbled to Liam. Though he knew Liam was only joking.

"You can sleep all the time when you go to that stupid school," said Liam. "Tonight is our last night to get wasted! Now get your lazy ass up and get ready for an epic night!"

"It's not my last night," Ted said. "I still have a couple weeks before I have to go to the school."

"Yeah, but you are going to be busy preparing to go to the school," Liam reminded Ted. "Tomorrow a professor is going to come and give you your exam scores, and give you a class schedule or something. Then you have to go get your school supplies from Diagon Alley. And Greyback is going to want to go over plans with you for the next couple of weeks. This is really the last chance you'll get to hang out with us."

Liam was right. Preparations with Greyback were going to be pretty intense. This was probably the most important mission for the werewolves that Ted had the great task of executing.

Greyback wanted one of the werewolf children to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. While attending, the child was supposed to explore the school and look for secret passages that were rumored to exist in the school, and to find out all of the defenses that the school had, then report them to Greyback. Then Greyback would formulate an attack strategy to tackle each defense, and have the army of wolves go through the secret passages and infiltrate the school. When the full moon rose, the wolves would bite as many children as they could and take as many children back with them so they could to build an army. Even if they couldn't capture all of the students they bit, the students would still be infected and turn into the very werewolves that wizards hated.

Ted was going to attend Hogwarts posing as a student named Nathaniel Roland Jr. Nathaniel was the son of Abigail and Nathaniel Roland, two werewolves who were followers of Greyback. Nathaniel and Abigail met shortly after they joined forces with Greyback, fell in love, and got married. They had a son together whom they bit soon after his birth to transform him into a werewolf. They taught him the ways of Greyback and his followers as he grew up. Fortunately, the family was not on the Werewolf Register of the Ministry of Magic.

Six years ago Nathaniel received a letter from Hogwarts inviting him to attend the school. His parents scoffed and threw it away. They sent their son for a proper education at Greyback's headquarters with the other werewolf children. A professor from Hogwarts came to their home to invite him again, but Nathaniel told the professor politely that he planned to teach his son at home and declined the invitation.

When Greyback made his plans he remembered that Nathaniel Jr had been invited to attend Hogwarts six years prior, so he had Nathaniel contact the school to accept the invitation now.

Nathaniel Jr, however, did not want to attend. He didn't want to have to live among retched wizards, who treated the werewolves so cruelly without being able to feed on them for what would probably be months, because the school was very big and it would take time to discover all of its secrets. And Nathaniel would have to blend in with the students so as to not raise any suspicion of his ulterior motives. That would mean Nathaniel would have to study. And Nathaniel, like most werewolves, wasn't good at reading. And most importantly, Nathaniel wouldn't get to drink and sleep with girls during his stay at Hogwarts, due to the strict rules of the school.

So Nathaniel asked Ted to take his place for the mission. Ted was much better at reading than the other werewolves. He had a natural knack for it. Ted was also a metamorphagus. He could change his physical appearance at will. So he could easily blend in as one of the students at the school. And Ted was also 16 years old like Nathaniel. Nathaniel had thought Ted was the best candidate for the job. So he begged Ted to request to take his place in the mission, and Greyback agreed.

Ted agreed because he had no trouble in sacrificing his freedom for a matter of mere months for the werewolves cause. Wizards were the vilest creatures, and Ted would do anything, and give up everything, to defeat them.

Ted himself was never invited to attend Hogwarts because his parents abandoned him when he was bitten, so werewolves had taken him in, Greyback told him. Ted had no memories of his life before the werewolves took him in.

When Nathaniel Sr sent the letter requesting Nathaniel a seat at Hogwarts, Hogwarts accepted the request. But they wanted Nathaniel to attend the final exams with students of his age, and based on his scores they would place him into the school. Nathaniel was supposed to enter the 6th year of Hogwarts based on his age. So he had to take the O.W.L. exam with his future classmates in May.

Ted obviously had to take that exam too because Nathaniel could barely write. Alistair got him a book called _A Concise Review of the O.W.L._ and got to work teaching him everything. It was a difficult several months. He barely had time to enjoy himself because he was so busy studying. Liam probably missed hanging out with Ted. Liam had done so much for Ted while he was growing up to make him happy.

"Alright," Said Ted. "Let me take a shower. What did you bring to drink?"

"Your favorite: Ogden's Old Firewhisky!" Liam exclaimed.

"Nice!" Ted yelled from the shower. Mark popped out of his room.

"Did I hear you say firewhisky?" he asked.

"Yup. Only the best for Ted on his last night as a free wolf. Please don't tell me that's what you're going to wear when you come out with us." Liam said, eyeing Mark's clothes wearily. "You're going to embarrass us."

"Sorry Ms. Liam. Is this not the latest style in _Witch Weekly_?" Mark asked sarcastically.

Liam threw a table at Mark, who ducked out of the way. The table crashed into the wall.

"Hey, no throwing furniture! We don't need to scare the muggles and have them come banging on our door again!" Ted yelled from his shower.

"I read _Witch Weekly_ one time and you won't let me hear the end of it!" Liam yelled. "Hurry up in there, Ted! I don't want to spend all night waiting for you to finish taking a shower!" Liam hollered to Ted. Ted turned off the tap and came out and pulled on a pair of pants.

"Mark, did you talk to the guy I attacked last night?" Ted asked as he sprayed his chest with a deodorizing potion.

"Yup. I treated his wounds with a silver powder and dittany mix; you almost killed the guy Ted." Ted dropped the potion in horror.

"Relax! I'm kidding!" Mark chortled. "Killings not a big deal though. Liam accidently killed a victim once and I've accidently killed two. It's just a part of life," Mark said dismissively. Ted knew Mark didn't feel this way. Ted was his roommate when Mark accidently killed a victim. He was so guilty he wouldn't leave his bed for three days. Ted had never killed a victim.

"Anyway, the duffer was sobbing like a baby. He was blubbering something about how being a werewolf would ruin his chances of getting the promotion he was working so hard for. I told him that he didn't need the Ministry, that he could have a high position in the werewolf ranks. He just cried for several more hours," said Mark.

"So is he going to join the werewolves or not?" Ted questioned.

"I don't know. I locked him up in an old abandoned building with a few other people who were bitten last night. I forged a letter to the Ministry in his name saying he was bitten and turned. Now we just have to wait for the Ministry to turn his back on him like they do on everyone else, then when he loses his job and they start chasing after him to lock him up, he'll realize that joining us is the best option he has," said Mark.

Mark's job in the werewolf ranks was to convince the people bitten on the full moon to join Greyback's army. It was easy to pick up the kids and make them forget their parents, but adults were harder to convince. Mark would normally inform the Ministry of Magic that the victim had been bit. These days the Ministry was terrified of werewolves, so most of the time they would try to lock up the victims. At that point most of the victims would chose to join Greyback, but some would try to convince the Ministry to let them live a normal life. It was a stupid choice, because even if the Ministry agreed not to lock them up they would always monitor them. The rest of the wizard community would shun them, and never allow them to have a job. It was just as bad as being locked up.

"Anyway I don't want to talk about work now," said Mark. "Where are we going tonight?"

"We're going to Hexes. It's going to be packed tonight." Liam stated. Hexes was the most popular wizard night club in the United Kingdom.

"I can't afford Hexes," Ted said as he dried his hair.

"Shut up, Ted. It's your last night for fun. I'll take care of it." Liam stated firmly.

"We don't have to go to Hexes. The entry fee is so high." Ted said. The entry fee for any wizard night club was high. But it was worth the money. Ted had gone to a few muggle night clubs, but they were nothing compared to wizard night clubs.

At wizard night clubs they would play wizard music. It was like muggle music, but every few lines they would sing a spell. These spells would change the atmosphere of the environment. The gravity on the dance floor would reduce so that dancing would become so much more fun. The dancers were able to move so fluidly to the beat of the music and were able to do all kinds of great leaps and flips and spins.

Ted wasn't a very good dancer. Liam and Mark we're exceptionally talented dancers (they always used their talents to impress girls). They tried to teach Ted some of their moves, but Ted never really caught on. He didn't enjoy dancing very much. But he _did_ enjoy music.

Since Ted was young he wanted to create music. When he was eleven he stole a guitar from a wizard and tried to teach himself how to play. Alistair told him it was a waste of time and threw the guitar away. Liam retrieved the guitar for Ted and also stole a book called _A Nitwit Wizard's Guide to Playing the Guitar_ for him. Whenever Ted got the chance he would secretly try to learn how to play. Unfortunately, he rarely got a chance to play because none of the other werewolves approved of him playing the guitar. They all told him it was a waste of time.

"We are definitely going to Hexes. No ifs, ands, or buts about it," Liam said.

"It's your last night with us," Mark said. "Don't ruin it. Come on."

"Ok," Ted agreed. "But when I come back I'm going to take you guys out for an awesome night!" After all, Ted may not have been allowed to feast on the students but he planned to pick a lot of pockets while at Hogwarts.

"Now you're talking!" Liam exclaimed. He poured all of them a shot of firewhisky as Ted came out of his room, dressed. "Cheers, to an epic night!" They clicked their glasses and took the shots.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

To get to Hexes they had to go down a manhole located in a bustling London street. When they entered the manhole they would travel down a slide which would lead them to Hexes.

"I'll help you get a really hot girl tonight," Liam said as they walked towards the manhole. "A hook up is just what you need tonight."

"Great," said Ted. Liam and Mark were total players. They helped Ted hook up with a few girls. But Ted didn't like to hook up with girls much. He enjoyed the sex of course, but he hated the feeling afterwards. He would always miss the girl after the one night. He tried telling Liam this.

"But you know you can't be with any of these girls, Ted. You know none of them will accept you as a werewolf. The only thing these girls are useful for is sex. Otherwise they're the same horrible witches who oppress werewolves. You have to remember that. Then you won't miss them much," Liam would tell Ted. Ted tried to think this way, but he would still miss the girls.

"If you want to settle down with a girl someday, then she'll have to be a werewolf. Or you'll have to bite her." Liam would say. "But you're young, you don't have to worry about settling down right now. Now is the time for you to enjoy the company of many girls."

Ted agreed with what Liam said, because he didn't want Liam's friends (friends such as Mark) to make fun of him. But he still missed every girl he ever hooked up with when the night was over. For this reason he just planned to sit back and enjoy some drinks and the music tonight. He didn't need a girl to complicate his life right now when he had such an important mission.

"Let's finish off the bottle before we go in," Mark said. "The drinks in there are so expensive."

"Oh, that reminds me," Liam dug into his pocket and pulled out a few galleons. "Here, you can use these to buy girls drinks." He said handing him the money.

"No, you don't have to. It's ok, really. It's your money. You should use it to buy girls drinks." Ted offered.

"Ok, now you're just insulting me," said Liam. "You know that with my moves I don't need to buy girls drinks to impress them. Now take the money!" He thrust the money into Ted's hands.

Actually Ted didn't need to work hard to impress girls either. Thanks to his metamorphagus skills he could shape his face to look extraordinarily handsome. In the wizard world he liked to make his face look like a younger version of a muggle celebrity that he had seen in some muggle magazines, named Hugh Jackman. Most witches didn't know who he was, so the look would really impress them.

"Come on losers. Let's get in there and have a good time!" Mark yelled. He lifted the lid of the man hole and the three of them jumped in.

The club was quite packed tonight. After Liam paid their entry fees he took them to the bar and bought them a couple rounds of shots.

It didn't take long for Liam and Mark to find girls they like. They immediately joined these girls on the dance floor. Ted didn't expect them to stay with him. This was always how things went whenever they went to clubs, and Ted didn't mind.

He ordered a drink and sat on a bar stool and enjoyed the music. He could be happy sitting at the bar and enjoy listening to the music for the whole night.

After about an hour of enjoying the music, for some reason Ted had an intense urge to look at the entrance of the club. Two beautiful girls walked into the club. One had perfectly silky long red hair. The other one had equally perfect long golden hair. They both had dazzling blue eyes. For some reason, Ted wanted to go to them so bad.

He wanted to talk with them, to dance with them.

Ted could feel his hair turn turquoise. Sometimes Ted couldn't control the color of his hair, and it would often try to turn wild colors, such as turquoise.

The girl with the golden hair looked in his direction. She stared at him, with a look of shock on her face. It wasn't that abnormal for someone's hair to change color in the wizarding world. Ted wanted to laugh at the beautiful girl's muggle-like reaction to his hair.

Suddenly many boys were gathered around the girls, and Ted could no longer see the girls through the crowd of wizard boys. Ted had a strong desire to toss every last boy into the walls so he could be with the girls. But he reminded himself that it wasn't a good idea. He sighed and tried to listen to the music again.

The girl with the golden hair walked away from the group of admiring boys and walked straight up to Ted. He was so happy that she came to him because she looked so much more beautiful up close. The momentary shock that was on her face before had vanished.

"Would you like to dance with me?" she asked Ted. Why was such a beautiful girl asking him to dance? This had to be some sort of prank by Mark. Or had Liam managed to convince such a beautiful girl to talk with him?

But he couldn't dance with such a beautiful girl. It would definitely distract him from his mission. "No thank you." He planned to say. "I have to leave soon. Maybe some other time."

Instead he said "Y-yes. Yes please." It was as if some external force was controlling him.

The girl smiled the most beautiful smile he had ever seen. When she smiled, her eyes sparkled with mischief. She took his hand and the two began to dance.

She was by far the best dancer he had ever danced with. He watched every perfect flip and twirl that she made with the beat of the music. She took his hands and guided him effortlessly into a perfect dance with the music.

Every man in the room seemed to have glaring green eyes of jealousy on the pair as they danced. They danced to several songs. Ted had never enjoyed dancing so much in his life.

"Wow, you have a lot of energy," The girl said, breathing hard. Thanks to his werewolf strength and stamina, Ted didn't feel anything.

"Let's get a drink," she said. Now he had to tell her no, that he really must be going.

"Alright," he agreed. That external force was controlling him again.

The girl led him to the bar counter and took a seat on a stool. Ted sat on the stool next to her.

"What will you have?" She asked taking out her purse. There was no way this was real now. Why would such a beautiful girl offer to buy Ted a drink?

Again the external force came in and Ted pulled out his wallet.

"One firewhisky," Ted told the male bartender. "And what will you have?" he asked the beautiful girl.

"Two firewhiskies," she told the bartender.

"How old are you?" The bartender asked the girl. The girl smiled at him, her eyes twinkling. "Two firewhiskies coming right up," the bartender said dazed.

Ted had never seen a bartender make drinks so fast before. "On the house," said the bartender.

"Thank you so much," the girl said sweetly. She turned to face Ted.

"So what's your name?" she asked him.

"Ted," he said. For a fraction of a second, her eyes widened with the same shock as when Ted's hair had turned turquoise. Then she went back to her charming and seductive look.

"I'm Victoire," said the girl. Ted wanted to say more but all he could really do was stare at her. "So I could've sworn that I saw your hair turn blue from across the dance floor," said Victoire.

"Turquoise," Ted corrected, and he instantly felt embarrassed to correct her.

"My mistake," She said with her perfect smile. Ted wished that he could do more than stare.

"So how did you make it turn turquoise? I didn't see you use a wand?" Victoire inquired.

"I'm a metamorphagus," Ted explained. Being a metamorphagus always impressed girls. He was sure that it would even impress a girl as beautiful as Victoire.

"Wow, that's quite a rare trait isn't it?" She said.

"Indeed it is. I bet you haven't met one before now, have you?" Ted hoped he didn't sound smug.

"Actually I did meet one once before, when I was very young. He was my best friend," the girl stated.

"Was?" Ted questioned. "What happened to him?" Suddenly the perfect smile vanished from her face. It was replaced by a look of great sadness. Ted felt so bad to have caused the beautiful girl sadness. The external force took over again, and Ted felt like he would be ready to do anything to make the girls sadness go away.

After a long pause she said, "We…lost touch with each other." She tried to smile again.

"So tell me about yourself. What's your job?" Victoire asked. Now would be a good time for Ted to start telling people that he was a student at Hogwarts, so he would get used to it.

"I'm a student at Hogwarts," Ted said.

"Really? So am I. But I've never seen you there before. What year are you in?"

"I'm going to start my 6th year. But you haven't seen me around because I was homeschooled for my first 5 years," he explained.

"Wow, homeschooled. Not many people get homeschooled," Victoire said. What made you decide to go to Hogwarts, instead of continuing with your homeschooling?" Victoire asked. This was actually such an obvious question, but Ted never considered it. He wasn't sure what to say.

He thought for a several seconds, and then finally replied, "I guess I wanted a change."

"That's understandable," Victoire said. "We'll you're going to love Hogwarts. It's a great place and loads of fun."

"Well if all of the girls are even half as pretty as you then I'm sure it will be," said Ted. He wasn't sure why he was saying stupid stuff like this. It was as if he couldn't control himself.

Victoire let out a small laugh. It was such a lovely musical sound. He could feel the sound vibrating through him like the sound of a bell.

"But it will be so…different for me to go to Hogwarts. I mean, it will be so different from the life that I've lived for so many years. I'm not sure how I'll…adjust…" What was he doing? Why was he complaining these stupid complaints to a random girl he just met? Complaints that he had never voiced to anyone before? He knew that going to Hogwarts and leaving the life he knew was going to be difficult, but he knew that what he was doing was for an important cause, for something much bigger than himself. He knew there was no point in complaining.

But it made him feel better, to be comfortable enough to express his complaint to someone. But why to this girl? Why not to his best friends, Liam and Mark? Certainly he wasn't opening himself up to this girl because she was pretty. How would her beauty have anything to do with how comfortable he felt opening up?

"I understand completely. But you have no reason to be worried. With me as your tour guide, you'll adjust to Hogwarts in no time." Victoire said as her eyes sparkled.

"Well now I really wish I had come to Hogwarts. Which year did you say you were going to be in?"

"5th," Victoire answered.

"-5 years ago," Ted said. And there was her beautiful laugh again.

The other beautiful girl that Victoire had come to Hexes with suddenly ran towards Ted and Victoire.

"Victoire, we have to go now! Louis just told me through the two way mirror that dad's thinking of going into our rooms to apologize to us for not letting us go to Hexes tonight!" the girl cried.

"What? We will be in so much trouble if dad doesn't see us in our rooms!" Victoire exclaimed.

"I know that you prat!" the girl shouted at Victoire. Why was the girl calling Victoire a prat? She was probably frustrated by her situation at the moment, but that wasn't a good reason to call her a prat. Ted didn't like the other girl much.

"I told Louis to distract him until we get home and sneak back into our windows, but we don't have much time! We have to go now!" she insisted.

So Victoire was a trouble maker. Defying, and lying, to her father to hang out at a night club. Ted liked this girl more and more by the second.

"I have to go. It was great meeting you. See you at Hogwarts," said Victoire hurriedly. She gave him one last smile, coupled with her twinkling eyes, and then gracefully scurried off with the other girl.


	4. Chapter 3

"I'm Professor Longbottom! It is my utmost pleasure to welcome you to my magnificent and wonderful home of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Ted eyed the overly cheery round-faced man wearily. He stared at his extended hand for several seconds. Liam elbowed him hard, reminding Ted to shake the man's hand. This was a human tradition that Ted never understood; nevertheless, he shook the man's sweaty hand.

"So what made you decide to accept your invitation to Hogwarts at this point of your academic career, Nathaniel? May I call you Nathaniel? Or do you have any short name you go by, Nate or perhaps Natey?" asked Professor Longbottom. Every professor Ted had met at Hogwarts the day he went there to take his OWLs had referred to him by his last name.

"You may call me Ted," Ted replied. He had already told one student that Ted was his nickname, so he decided that he should stick to it. Liam elbowed him hard again.

"But Nathaniel, your name is Nathaniel," Liam said. "It's not Ted, nor has it ever been Ted."

"But Father, you know my nickname is Ted," Ted said with an inconspicuous wink to Liam. Liam was posing as Nathaniel's father to make Ted feel more comfortable, and because Nathaniel's father had no desire to spend an afternoon engaging in polite conversation with a foul wizard. He and his family stepped out of the house for the day. It felt strange for Ted to refer to Liam as a father. Although Liam had taken care of Ted his entire life, he thought of Liam more as an older brother than a father.

"Ok, then I will call you Ted from now on!" said Professor Longbottom brightly. "I want all of my students to feel as comfortable as possible, because school can be a bit of a stressful time with all the challenging work to cope with." Professor Longbottom's perpetual smile wavered slightly, and Ted got the feeling that the professor was speaking from his own experience.

"Right then, I have your OWL scores right here." The professor handed Ted a thick envelope. The contents said:

 **ORDINARY WIZARD LEVEL RESULTS**

 _ **Pass Grades Fail Grades**_

Outstanding (O) Poor (P)

Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)

Acceptable (A) Troll (T)

 _ **Nathaniel Ross Rowland Jr has achieved:**_

Arithmancy D

Astronomy P

Charms E

Defence Against the Dark Arts O

Herbology A

History of Magic P

Muggle Studies E

Potions E

Transfiguration E

Ted had to reread his scores five times to believe them. They weren't half bad. Not that Ted actually cared about the assessment a bunch of dumb wizards made of his knowledge. Or most of the dumb subjects wizards assessed young wizard's knowledge on.

Alistar had always been a strict teacher, but Ted never cared to learn from him and was easily able to ignore his threats and punishments, so he didn't try too hard to study unless he enjoyed a subject.

He and Alistar thought Astronomy was a useless subject in which he was expecting to receive a Troll, so a Poor was a pleasant surprise. Ted hated Arithmancy; however, Alistar found it fascinating and always pushed Ted to excel in it. Ted ran in the opposite direction and this reflected in his poor grade of a Dreadful. He didn't even understand why he had to take Arithmancy, but Hogwarts required students to take two OWLs in two extra subjects. Alistar insisted he take the extra OWLs in Arithmancy and Study of Ancient Runes because he enjoyed those two boring subjects. Luckily, Liam put him in Muggle Studies because he said it would be easy for him since they hung out in the muggle world so much, and because Ted lived in a muggle apartment, full of muggle appliances that Ted and Mark screwed around with for fun. Liam was right as always. Ted only had to study for two days to achieve his Exceeds Expectations in Muggle Studies. Ted always thought Charms and Potions were interesting subjects and was happy to receive an Exceeds Expectations. Ted was indifferent to Herbology so an Acceptable was an acceptable score for him. Ted found Transfiguration challenging. He didn't think his exam had gone too well. When he tried to turn brussels sprouts into chocolate cake the cake turned green, and his examiner had to spit it out into a napkin when she tasted it. But after that Ted impressed her when he was able to transform his face into a bear's face. She probably had no idea that he was a metamorphagus. Defence Against the Dark Arts was the easiest exam due to all the training he did with Alistar in fighting. Still he was surprised and happy to see an Outstanding. A History of Magic was the most boring subject he had ever had to study. He had no idea how he managed to achieve a score of Poor.

"Those are impressive scores," Professor Longbottom said into Ted's ear. Ted jumped slightly. He didn't realize that Professor Longbottom was peering earnestly over his shoulder the entire time Ted was reading his scores, just inches away from his face.

"Now you may decide which subjects you would like to take for your NEWT levels. Then I'll give you your schedule and a list of books and supplies which you will need for the subjects you choose," Professor Longbottom stated brightly.

 _And then you can finally leave us alone_ Ted thought to himself.

"What subjects would you like to take?"

"Defence Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies," Ted answered. He was going to take Defence Against the Dark Arts so he could observe the students and their knowledge of defensive magic so the werewolves could make better strategies, and Muggle Studies because it would be easy.

"Ok, I will put you down for Defence Against the Dark Arts." He pulled a blank parchment out of his pocket and tapped it with his wand. The words _Defence Against the Dark Arts_ appeared on the blank parchment along with times and certain days of the week next to it. "However, if you have passed three OWLs you are required to take three NEWT level subjects at Hogwarts. And unfortunately Hogwarts does not offer a NEWT level in Muggle Studies," said Professor Longbottom with his perpetual smile. Ted hadn't expected this. He wasn't sure what to do.

Professor Longbottom hardly gave him two seconds to think when he said, "Why don't you take Herbology?"

"But I only got an Acceptable," said Ted.

"That is quite alright. I accept any student with a passing score on their OWL. Hell, I would accept students who failed their OWL too if I was allowed to. I think all students should be given equal opportunities no matter what the circumstances may be."

Ted was quite surprised to hear such a remark from a wizard. He always thought it was ridiculous of wizards to force their young to take all these stressful exams. Then compare their performance to one another, thus making some feel inferior to others, and then not allow them to have the same opportunities as those who had scored better. These tests were also a ridiculous way to assess a student's knowledge, because a few random questions could never encompass a person's entire knowledge range. There was clearly a strong element of luck involved in the scores students received.

"Well it's settled then," said Professor Longbottom, breaking Ted from his chain of thoughts. "I will put you down for Herbology. Ted opened his mouth to speak, but before any words came out the Professor had tapped Ted's schedule with his wand and Herbology appeared on it. Ted turned to Liam for help, but he was busy playing with Nathaniel's golden-yellow pet cat Caramel.

"What else would you like to take? You have scored an Exceeds Expectations in Charms, Transfiguration, and Potions, why don't you take those subjects?" the Professor asked.

Ted hesitated. He was supposed to take as few subjects as possible so he would have time to focus on his goals, though it wasn't as if his grades actually mattered.

"With all of these subjects you will have excellent career opportunities. You could become an Auror, or you could become a Healer and you could qualify for almost any position in the Ministry of Magic."

Ted sneered at this. Professor Longbottom looked at him inquisitively, so Ted turned his sneer into a cough.

"This will be a perfect schedule. I'll put you down for all of these subjects," said Professor Longbottom. Ted tried to protest but Professor Longbottom tapped the parchment and handed Ted his new schedule, Ted's protests falling on deaf ears. The Professor pulled out another parchment, tapped it with his wand, and handed it to Ted.

"This is your list of school supplies. As I'm sure you know, you can purchase everything on the list from Diagon Alley." Then he pulled out a small pouch from his robes. "This is money from the Hogwarts funds, for students whose parents have lower incomes." Ted remembered that when Hogwarts invited Nathaniel they offered to share this fund with him. "It should be enough for you to purchase all of the supplies. Would you like me to escort you to Diagon Alley and assist you with your shopping?"

Right when the professor pulled out the pouch of money Liam dropped Caramel (whom he had been holding above his head and swinging around for fun) and rushed over to take the pouch. The cat gave a vicious hiss.

"That won't be necessary," said Liam grabbing the pouch and shaking the professor's hand. "Thank you so much for all of your help Professor Hugeass."

"Um, Professor Longbottom," the professor corrected. He turned to Ted and extended his hand again. Ted tried not to roll his eyes when he shook it. "I am thoroughly thrilled to welcome you to Hogwarts on behalf of the entire Hogwarts staff! See you on the first of September." With that, Professor Longbottom apparated out of Nathaniel Rowland's house.

"I thought he would never leave," said Liam as he sifted through the contents of the pouch of money. But within two minutes Professor Longbottom apparated back into the house. Liam spilled the contents of the pouch in surprise.

"Sorry, I forgot to give you your Hogwarts express ticket. Please arrive at the Kings Cross Train Station to Platform 9 and ¾ at 11 am on September 1st. To reach the platform you simply have to walk straight through the divider between Platforms 9 and 10." The professor handed Ted his ticket to the train. "I look forward to seeing you at Hogwarts Ted."

This time the professor apparated out of the house for good.

5


	5. Chapter 4

The last time Ted went to Diagon Alley he was there to pick pockets when he was ten. He'd been too busy sticking his hands in Wizards pockets and running away from the more vigilant ones to be able to enjoy it.

Mark and Liam planned to accompany Ted. Alistar, who had already had to spend a whole day alone with the children at headquarters, was quite annoyed that Liam planned to leave him alone again to go with Ted.

"He's sixteen years old Liam. He doesn't need you to follow him around and wipe his ass. Now the baby werewolf at headquarters _does_ need you to wipe his ass," Alistar said.

"He's never been to Diagon Alley. He'll need help buying all this crap." Liam replied.

"Then I'll take him," Alistar offered.

"That's alright," Ted said hastily. "It will be a long and boring day and the kids will miss you here." Mark snorted at that.

"At least leave Mark here to help me with the kids. I can't take care of all these paste-eaters alone," Alistar said. The smile instantly vanished from Mark's face.

"Alistar taking care of Mark will be much harder than taking care of these children. He still eats paste you know," Liam stated.

"Yup it's true," Mark said, not wanting to be alone with Alistar and the kids all day. He didn't like kids and he didn't like Alistar. Also, Ted suspected that it might be true.

"Ok fine, whatever, but you owe me," said Alistar. "A few kids have stomach bugs. There will be quite a few puddles of puke with your name on them, Liam."

Diagon Alley was huge. It was filled with all kinds of magnificent looking shops filled with phenomenal items. Ted hated to admit it, but the Wizards had created something good.

"There are so many books on this list," Mark complained, as if he were the one who had to read them. "Where do we get these from?"

"Mark, you've been to Diagon Alley a dozen times in your life and you don't know where the bookstore is?" Liam questioned.

"I didn't even know they had a bookstore," Mark replied. Liam rolled his eyes. He led them towards a shop called Flourish and Blotts.

"Greyback wants us to spend as little as possible so that we can put the rest of the money that that professor gave you in the werewolf funds. So we'll have to get you used books." Liam told Ted as he opened the door to the bookstore. Many people stared at them as they entered the bookstore due to their tattered clothing, Ted's turquoise hair, and the disheveled appearances of Liam and Mark. Liam and Mark only bothered about their appearance when going out to find women to hook-up with.

Liam asked a shop worker to lead them to the used books. There were several different books and many of them were in horrible condition with loose spines, tattered covers, and ripped and stained pages. It was difficult for them to find any of the books Ted needed, much less books in decent condition. Mark complained non-stop about being bored or hungry and said they should just forget about the books and go get burgers.

Liam found Mark a book called _777 Jokes for Wizards_ in order to keep him quiet. After an hour they were able to find all of the books on Ted's list. _An Advanced Guide to Transfiguration_ had a few missing pages and _Advanced Potion Making_ was missing the cover, but they got all of the books for extremely low prices. Mark stole several pages from the joke book.

On the way to the next shop Mark had Ted and Liam cracking up from all the jokes he read from the joke book. He was so good at delivering the jokes that even the dumbest ones had Ted and Liam grasping at their sides. His funny personality always helped him get girls. Well it must have been that, because Ted knew it certainly wasn't his brains or his looks.

Ted got his potion supplies at a small new potions shop that gave a discount to all its customers to attract people to the new shop. He bought a used cauldron and brass scale too. Ted also found a set of glass vials for only five knuts because it was missing two vials. Liam wanted to buy the more expensive but full set for him, but Ted firmly refused. He wanted to save as much as possible for the funds.

The next item on the list was 3 sets of plain black work robes. Ted, Liam and Mark each had a set of black robes so Ted was planning to take those to Hogwarts. Liam was taller than Ted so his robes would be long on Ted. Mark was shorter and broader so his robes were bound to look awkward on Ted. All the robes were tattered too. Ted didn't want to wear the same robes everyone else was wearing anyway. He found it rather stupid that they all had to wear the same clothes, that they couldn't express themselves with the clothing of their choice. But it was just another idiotic thing Ted was going to have to get used to.

The last item on the list was a wand. Ted already had a wand. Greyback had been stealing several wands over the years. Whenever a werewolf child joined the headquarters they were sent to Greyback to receive a wand. Ted remembered how hard it was to find a wand that would work for him. He recalled the day he was summoned to Greyback at headquarters to receive a wand.

 _He entered the wand room – a closet with a round table with wands sprawled out on it timidly. Greyback was seated behind the table with his second in command standing next to him._

" _Master Greyback," Ted greeted Greyback with a bow as per the rules of the Werewolves. "_ _(insert something you could refer a 2_ _nd_ _in command as: leftenant, lieutenant, sir, deputy, commander, etc.)_ _Pendergrass," Ted bowed to Greyback's 2nd in command._

" _What's your name, boy?" Greyback demanded. His voice was a terrifying rasp._

" _T-Ted, Master. Ted Lupin, master," Ted stuttered._

" _Well T-ted, what are you waiting for?" He looked down at the wands pointedly. Ted looked down at them too. "Grab a wand and give it wave!" Greyback barked. Ted tried not to jump. He picked up the first wand he could find and waved it hard. Nothing happened._

 _Greyback seized the wand back from him and tossed it aside carelessly. "I don't have all day. Grab another one."_

 _Ted tried wand after wand, but not a single wand seemed to work in Ted's hand. He watched the pile of wands that didn't work pile up hopelessly. Perhaps something was wrong with him? Maybe he really didn't have any magical powers and would have to be like the muggle werewolf children. The idea was quite depressing for Ted. As the last few wands remained, Ted grew nauseous with fear with each wand he tried. Finally Ted had tried every single wand in the wand room. He gave the last wand a helpless wave. That was that. He wasn't going to get a wand after all._

 _Greyback's second-in-command whispered something into Greyback's ear. A look of rage crossed Greyback's face. The second-in-command tried to calm him down and whispered some more in his ear. Greyback closed his eyes and said "Very well. We will try it out, but I doubt it will work." He turned to Ted. Ted swallowed nervously. "Ted, I will return in one hour. Wait here until I return." It was probably the most nerve-racking hour of Ted's life. He didn't know if he would get a wand or not._

 _Finally Greyback returned holding a slim black box in his hands. He removed a long wand from the box. None of the other wands Ted tried were in boxes. Ted wondered why this wand had its own box and wasn't kept with the rest of the wands._

 _Greyback shoved the wand into Ted's hand. Ted eyed it apprehensively._

" _Well, what are you waiting for? Give it a wave!" Greyback snapped. In fear, Ted gave it a sharp flick. Swirls of gold light flooded out of the wand._

" _It worked!" Greyback's second-in-command squealed in excitement._

" _Hush!" shouted Greyback. He turned back to Ted. The words he said to Ted were, "Congratulations. You now have an excellent wand." But the look of contorted rage on his face said something completely different._

 _Ted bowed and thanked Greyback as he was required to, then left the room as quickly as he could to meet Liam. He wanted to tell Liam what happened but he didn't quite know how to explain the look of rage on Greyback's face so he left the matter unspoken._

Ted shuddered at the memory as he Liam and Mark walked down the road of Diagon Alley. (Dear John, that was supposed to be Voldy's old wand that he ditched for the elder wand. In canon no one knows what happened to it. So I decided Greyback picked it up so now Ted has it and he and Harry share wand cores which I think is pretty cool. Yay!)

"Let's go to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!" Mark exclaimed. He was rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet like an excited child.

"Alright," said Liam. "Ted you're going to love this place. The Weasley's are geniuses. They are the only Wizards I could probably ever stand in my life."

Ted thought Weasley's Wizard Wheezes would only be one shop, but it was a block of seven large purple shops. One was called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Joke Shop. One was called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Defensive Magical Objects. Another one was called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Sweets Shop. A shop called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes WonderWitch Shop caught Ted's eye. Not because it was the only pink shop amongst the purple shops but because of the large poster that took up the entire window.

The poster was a large, smiling picture of Victoire's sister. Underneath it a caption read, "Want to look like this? Then come on in and try out our wide range of WonderWitch products. Buy a new WonderWitch hairstyler and get your first hairstyle for free!"

"Looks like Ted wants to buy himself a new bra," Mark said from behind him. Liam elbowed him in the ribs.

"No dumbass. He's looking at the poster of the girl. It's that Veela he danced with at the club," Liam explained to Mark.

"Oh yeah, that Veela who ran away from him," Mark recalled.

"She wasn't a Veela, and I danced with her sister," Ted told them for the hundredth time. But Ted wasn't so sure. Once Mark brought some Veelas over to their apartment, he was sure that the Veelas would hook up with him, Ted, and Liam. All that ended up happening was that the boys gave the Veelas back, foot, and scalp massages, cooked them a five course meal, and ordered them designer dressing robes from _Witch Weekly –_ which arrived on the spot when ordered. The robes cost Ted and Mark 3 months' rent.

But Victoire couldn't be a Veela. Then again, she certainly was beautiful enough to be one. And there was the way everyone in the room seemed to be drawn to her. But there was just something so innocent about her, something that Veelas didn't have, that made Ted doubt that she was a Veela.

A woman in hot pink robes which matched the shop came up to Ted, Liam, and Mark. She had a large white smile that seemed to take up more than half of her face.

"Hello! Can I interest you in our newest product?" She held up a strange contraption of scissors, combs, hair curlers, empty potion vials, and a straightening rod all clumped together haphazardly. "This is a called the WonderWitch Hairstyler. It styles your hair any way you want it in just seven minutes." She held up a magazine with Victoire's sister's face on it again.

"You can purchase as many hairstyles as you would like from this magazine. All you have to do is tap the style you want in the magazine with your wand, and then tap the styler with your wand, and the styler will begin to style your hair! The style lasts until you wash your hair. You can charge different styles to your WonderWitch account through this magazine. You get your first style free when you buy the styler. Then for every seven styles you purchase you get one style free! You can keep buying the same style if you like it, or you can keep trying different styles. This would be a perfect gift for a girlfriend. We also have a magazine of boy styles too. It's a great buy!" Several girls were walking out of the pink shop with the styler and a magazine in their arms. The sales woman held up the boy magazine.

"You know what, I think I'm good," Ted said. He casually ran a hand through his hair, and as he did, he used his metamorphagus abilities to make his hair look exactly like the hair of the boy on the cover of the magazine. The sales girl's eyes widened.

"Well that was impressive, how did you do that?" the girl asked excitedly.

"I can't reveal all my secrets, now can I?" Ted said with a wink. When he winked his eye turned from its usual hazel to a brilliant shade of blue. The girl flashed a smile that was too big for her face.

"Well, perhaps when my shift ends I can buy you a drink at the Leaky Cauldron, and you can reveal one or two of your secrets for me."

"Only if you bring that beautiful smile with you," Ted replied. Ted didn't think it was possible, but the girl's smile grew wider.

"Ok I get off at 7. I'll meet you back here?"

"Sure. I'm Ted by the way."

"Amber," said the girl. She waved and went back into the pink shop.

"You're on a roll Ted!" Mark exclaimed when Amber was out of earshot. He clasped Ted on the back.

"We've taught you well," Liam said with a smile.

They moved on to browse through the Defense and Joke shops. Mark begged Liam to let them go to the candy store.

"No not again. You'll waste all of our money on candy then eat yourself sick," said Liam. "Ted, take Mark to the burger place and order a large burger and a chocolate milkshake for me. I have something I need to take care of. I'll see you guys soon."

"Where are you going?" Ted asked as Liam handed him a few sickles for the food.

"You'll see," Liam said with a smile. Liam was a very fast wolf. He was gone before Ted could object.

"C'mon, I'm starving!" said Mark.

Mark was eating his third burger with still no sign of Liam.

Ted only ate a few onion rings because he wanted to wait for Liam before eating.

"Dude, your food's getting cold," Mark said before taking another large bite of his burger. Ted chewed the end of another onion ring thoughtfully as he wondered what Liam could possibly be doing.

"So that Veela," said Mark as he took a sip of his strawberry milkshake. "Are you going to bang her at Hogwarts?" Ted nearly choked on his onion ring. The thought of "banging her" had never crossed Ted's mind. Ted threw a handful of fries at Mark.

"What was that for?" Normally Ted would tell Mark all about his plans to bang a girl to seem cool if Mark would ask him something like that. But for some reason when Mark talked that way about Victoire it irritated Ted almost to the point of anger.

"Life isn't all about sex you know," said Ted crossly.

"Yeah it's also about drinking and good music," Mark replied. Ted couldn't disagree with the music part.

Liam returned with a large tank in his arms.

"I got you a going-away present, Ted!" he exclaimed.

"A tank? Um, thanks. That's really thoughtful of you," said Ted.

"Not the tank, prat. What's inside the tank," Liam handed Ted the tank. It was so small that Ted hadn't noticed it before. But a small orange toad was sitting inside the tank.

"It's called a golden toad of Monteverde," Liam stated, "though it looks more orange to me. They're quite rare so I was extremely lucky to get it for the price I did. Your school list says you may bring an owl or a cat or a toad. Owls were a bit pricey. You never seemed very fond of Caramel, so I didn't get a cat. Toads are starting to come back into style now. They're dead useful too. You can practice magic on them since toads have a magical property to not feel pain by magic, and they recover from spells quickly."

Ted was touched. It wasn't just Caramel. Ted just wasn't fond of animals in the first place, but this gift had been so thoughtful. And looking at the little toad, Ted had a feeling that the little guy just might grow on him.

"Liam, I don't know what I'm going to do without you. You've always had my back. You've been like a real brother to me my entire life. I'm going to miss you so much," Ted said.

"Don't worry. Even when you'll be thousands of miles away at Hogwarts, you know that I'll still have your back," Ted gave Liam a hug. Liam wasn't normally comfortable with hugs, but Ted knew that the moment called for a hug.

"Get a room," said Mark. Ted knew he just felt left out of the moment. Liam pulled Mark out of his seat – Mark dropped his fourth burger onto his plate – and gave him a hug too.


	6. Chapter 5

A few days before Ted had to leave for Hogwarts he finally took Mark's advice and hooked up with a girl.

He woke up with his arms wrapped around Amber's curvy frame. It was definitely the best sex Ted had ever had. He wrapped a lock of her soft auburn hair around his index finger. That was strange; Ted could have sworn she had dazzling golden blonde hair. At least that was what he kept seeing every time he closed his eyes and entered her. He looked into her brilliant blue eyes every time he squeezed her perfect breasts. Every time he rubbed is palm against her clit he heard the musical sound of her moans. The sound was enough to make Ted come.

Amber opened her eyes. That was strange, her eyes were brown.

"Hey," she muttered sleepily. She had a cute voice but it was nothing like the musical sound Ted imagined last night. Feeling completely mortified, Ted realized what had happened. The entire time Ted was having sex with Amber he was picturing Victoire. He had imagined what her breasts would have felt like based on how he saw them fill out her top perfectly from the night he met her, and he even imagined what her moans would sound like based on her laughs.

Ted pulled himself away from Amber and got out of the bed.

"Where are you going?" she asked sounding more alert.

"I, um, need to get to work. I'm late," Ted glanced at the clock on his bedside table which read 9:37. "Crap! I really am late!" Ted was supposed to meet Greyback at 10 to go over his plans for Hogwarts.

"Um, you need to go, right now," said Ted as he picked up Amber's bra and shirt off the ground. He tossed them to her.

"Ok, jackass, listen here," Amber said rising from the bed. She did have a nice pair of tits Ted noted. "You can't just sleep with me and tell me I need to get out of here the second I wake up."

"Seriously my boss is going to strangle me if I'm late," Ted repressed a shudder at a memory of a time a werewolf showed up late to a headquarters meeting – Greyback seized him by the neck and shook him so hard Ted thought his eyes would pop out.

"I don't see how that's my problem," Amber said. She deliberately put her bra on as slow as she possibly could. Normally Ted would have enjoyed watching her, but it irritated him to no end today.

"Can you pick up the pace?" Ted asked crossly. Amber turned around and bent down very slowly to pick up her underwear, her firm bare ass sticking out in Ted's face. Ted tore his eyes away and hastily picked up his pants which were lying by Amber's feet. Something fluttered out of his pocket.

Amber snatched it before it fell to the floor. Her eyes grew wide with horror as she read the piece of paper.

"This is a ticket to the _Hogwarts express_ ," she hissed. "You told me you were 25!" Ted didn't know what to say.

"Oh. My. God! I just slept with a Hogwarts student!" she exclaimed, every syllable dripping with horror.

She slapped Ted hard across the face. Ted was surprised he felt it; normally a werewolf wouldn't feel a slap from a human. She pulled on her underwear and skirt faster than Ted thought possible. As she darted through the hall of Ted's apartment she pulled her shirt on.

"Good morning, sunshine," said Mark from the bathroom doorway with a stupid grin on his face as he watched her pull her shirt over her large breasts. She slammed the door behind her in response.

Ted felt lucky that his ticket fell out of his pocket at that moment. He felt guilty for being a total ass, but he couldn't afford to be late to Greyback. Maybe he could swing by WonderWitch later and apologize to Amber. Ted remembered the look in her eyes when she slapped him. Maybe it wasn't a good idea. He didn't have time to worry about it now anyway. He got ready as quickly as he could while ignoring Mark's remarks and left the apartment.

Ted's apartment was five kilometers from the werewolf headquarters. Ted wished he could run to the headquarters but his apartment was on a bustling street in London. If any muggles noticed how fast he ran it would terrify them. But muggles hardly noticed anything. Still Ted knew he couldn't take the risk.

After about three and a half kilometers Ted reached a dense forest. Here he was free to run without anyone seeing him. This forest was rumored to be filled with wolves and coyotes and terrifying howls were often heard, so hardly any muggles ventured into it. The few foolishly brave muggles who dared to enter often turned up with gruesome injuries and no recollection of how they got them. The wolves attacked the muggles and put memory charms on them when they first created the headquarters in order to keep them far away. It had been years since a muggle had entered.

Ted took off into the trees, running as fast as he could. Soon he stopped at a large thicket of trees. His eyes scanned several large trees until he found the right one.

It was an average sized oak tree and scattered amongst its several green leaves was a single blue leaf. Ted took a deep breath, wrapped his arms around the trunk of the tree, and heaved with all of his might. As the roots of the tree started to tear from their base the image of a large blurry building began to form in front of Ted. When Ted completely uprooted the tree the blurry building came into focus.

It was an old building with dirty cracking walls, but it was the great werewolf headquarters. It was the place Ted had grown up.

Ted slowly lowered the oak tree to the ground and wiped sweat from his brow. The ripped roots of the tree merged together, as if the tree had never been uprooted. Mark had turned one leaf on the tree blue. It exasperated Greyback but Mark insisted that it was impossible to remember _which_ tree activated the spell to reveal the headquarters, because all the trees looked the same. Everyone made fun of Mark for being too dumb to remember the tree, but Ted was secretly grateful that Mark had turned a leaf blue because to Ted all the trees looked the same too.

After Ted caught his breath he walked through the unlocked doors of the headquarters. There was no way any human could have the strength to uproot the tree to make the Headquarters visible, so there was no need for a lock on the door. The tree could not be lifted with magic either. Ted closed the door behind him, which made the headquarters invisible again, until someone else with superhuman strength up-rooted the oak tree with the single blue leaf.

Ted entered the hall where Liam was instructing children on werewolf sparring techniques. It was hard because things would be so different when they were in werewolf form, their bodies twisted into a massive new shape. Liam waved to Ted as Ted passed him. Ted headed up the stairs. He passed Alistar who was in a room that acted as a makeshift classroom. Alistar was teaching a group of children some basic charms. The room was pin drop silent accept for Alistar's voice, just the way Alistar liked it. Ted was glad that those days were behind him. Then he remembered bitterly that those days were in fact ahead of him at Hogwarts.

He walked by the children's bedrooms where several mattresses were scattered on the floor. Next to each mattress was a large cardboard box which contained each child's belonging – a few pairs of clothing and whatever Knick knacks the children had managed to find or steal over the years. If any child acquired more than what the child was able to fit in his or her box Alistar would make them throw things away, because the headquarters was an important location and he didn't want it to get cluttered with junk. Liam kept some of the children's extra belongings in his room for the children. Alistar scoffed at him for coddling the kids and said he was wasting the space in his room for the silly junk. Liam ignored Alistar.

Ted reached the attic where he was meeting Greyback. The attic was where the werewolves gathered to discuss business. It was off limits to the children.

He knocked on the door.

"Enter," came Greyback's raspy voice. Ted timidly pushed the door open. Greyback was sitting on a tall chair covered with velvet cushions. Pendergrass stood on his left side. Ted entered the room and bowed at Pendergrass and Greyback's feet in turn.

"Master," Ted said as he bowed.

"Hello Mr. Lupin," Greyback said in his cold voice. Ted cringed at the name. He hated the surname of his father, who abandoned him because he believed he was a monster. "Are you ready for your mission?"

"Yes master. I will do anything for the werewolves. Including living amongst vile Wizards," Ted answered.

"This is a very important mission, one you absolutely cannot fail at," said Greyback, completely ignoring Ted's statement. "In fact, if you do fail, you might as well live with the vile Wizards forever, because you will not be welcome back to these headquarters." Ted's breath caught.

"No need to worry, because I have full faith that you will succeed. After the Battle of Hogwarts against The Dark Lord, much of the school was rebuilt. Due to the school's magical properties new secret passages simply appeared throughout the castle. Your job is to find these passages and communicate their location to us. Then, on the next full moon, the werewolves will infiltrate the castle and bite as many children and take back as many children as we can.

"You will communicate with us once every month during the monthly Hogsmeade visits students participate in. The first one is in October. I will send a member of the werewolves to meet you in the basement of the Hogshead Bar at Hogsmeade. He will be your handler. You will give him all of the information that you've gathered. If the mission is not complete by Christmastime, you will come to the werewolf headquarters on Christmas day and report directly to me. If there is any sort of emergency, you can contact any member of the werewolves by owl post. Hogwarts has owls for the students to use and fortunately the mail is not checked by the staff. You will not contact the headquarters directly though, to be safe. You will contact your handler and he will contact me, any questions?"

"No master," said Ted his voice barely audible. For the first time Ted was actually afraid of his mission. What if he failed? What if the professors caught him? What would they do? Would they send him to Azkaban?

"Good. One last thing," Greyback snapped his fingers. A servant dashed into the room carrying a large black bottle. He bowed, handed it to Greyback, bowed again then scurried from the room.

"This is wolfsbane potion. You absolutely cannot bite anyone during your monthly transformations while you are posing as a student. Therefore you must consume one cup of this potion every day for a week before your transformation. Your handler will bring you a new bottle every month. During your transformation you must hide from everyone at the school. There is a forest that is restricted to students which you can enter," Greyback explained.

"But master, it is a disgrace amongst the werewolves to take the wolfsbane potion. Master, it prevents us from allowing our true selves to roam freely! Master, it dulls our brains and turns us into mindless fools to be controlled by the Ministry for Magic!" Ted cried.

"You dare interrupt me?!" Greyback thundered. He slowly rose from his chair. Ted tried hard not to tremble.

"M-master, please," Ted stuttered.

"Silence!" Greyback roared. "This mission is far too important, you simply cannot fail! You knew what you were getting into when you agreed to join it. You knew you would be suffering for many months amongst the wizards. If you did not have what it takes to do this then why did you agree? If you wish to back out now then you will forever be a disgrace to the werewolves!" Ted was speechless. He didn't want to back out. He simply didn't think he should have to take the vile wolfsbane potion. No werewolf in their ranks ever took the dreaded draught.

Ted took a sharp breath and forced himself to stop trembling. He said in a quiet but steady voice, "Master, I have what it takes to go on this mission. I will not let you down. I will take the wolfsbane and I will suffer through living with the wizards for the greater good of our people."

Greyback looked taken aback by Ted's sudden courage. "Very well," he said. "You may go." Ted took the potion bottles, bowed to Greyback and exited the room. He took each step deliberately standing tall and confidently. As soon as he closed the door behind him he began to tremble all over.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Charlie

When Ted recovered from his meeting with Greyback he headed back down the stairs. He checked his watch, 1 PM, lunchtime for the children. Ted entered the lunchroom. He had to watch where he stepped because, as always, the floors were covered with years of old food. The children sat in scattered groups on the floor and chatted happily. Ted wished that they could afford to provide the children with tables.

Each child owned one plate, one cup, one fork, one knife, and one bowl. Against the walls were three large sinks where the children had the option of washing their plates. Sadly many of the children chose against that option.

Behind the lunchroom was a kitchen. In the kitchen there was a time table that listed which three children would do the cooking for the day and which two children would get the groceries. The children would spend the morning cooking lunch for everyone, and the afternoon cooking dinner for everyone. For breakfast each child would get two slices of plain bread and a cup of water. No one really cared what lessons the children would miss in school on the days they cooked.

Ted glanced at a small boy's plate. It had a glop of half cooked hamburger meat mixed with some canned corn. It was a good thing that werewolves liked rare meat, because the children were never properly taught how to cook. Liam insisted that the kids needed vegetables in their meals, so he would always make the kids who got the groceries get cheap canned vegetables.

Half the time the kids would steal the food, but half the time Liam would give them money from their funds to purchase the food, so they would decrease their chances of getting caught stealing. The stealing was always done from muggle supermarkets. The days the kids stole they would always steal several boxes of packaged cakes and large bags of assorted candy, and eat them on the way back to headquarters. Liam tried his best to regulate the amount of sugar the kids consumed on these days. He was well respected amongst the kids and they mostly obeyed him, but when it came to eating sweets, the kids always ate as much as they pleased no matter how much Liam begged them to stop.

A young boy named Justin waved to Ted. Ted walked up to him.

"Hey Ted, long time no see," Justin said through a mouth full of hamburger meat. "We miss you around here. Grab a plate of food and sit down. They have some extra plates in the kitchen."

"Thanks, but the days of lunchroom grub are long behind me," Ted replied. Justin threw a handful of hamburger meat at Ted's face. Ted ducked out of the way and the meat hit the wall behind Ted. "Just kidding man. I miss you guys too. Your biceps look bigger. It seems like you've been working hard."

Justin beamed with delight. "I bench four hundred pounds now!" he said excitedly. That was pretty good for a werewolf his age.

"Nice!" said Ted. "Where's Liam?"

"He's up in the infirmary. He ate his lunch in like two minutes and went up there," Justin replied.

"Well I need to go talk to him. I'll catch you later Justin," Ted said as he headed to the infirmary.

"See ya!" Justin called after him.

Ted entered the infirmary. One girl was sleeping on a mattress with a damp rag on her forehead. Ted assumed she had a fever. Another boy was lying on a mattress and reading a comic book called _The Adventures of Martin Miggs, The Mad Muggle_. His face looked greenish. He must have had a stomach bug. Kids often fell sick, probably because the places they ate and slept in were filthy, and Liam and Alistar hardly had time to take care of them because they were busy teaching the other children. Ted wished that they had some house elves to clean the place and more teachers to teach the children. But the werewolves simply didn't have the money or the man power, so that was the way things had to be and Ted had to accept that.

Liam was sitting next to a small child lying on a mattress. The child didn't look good. He was covered in bandages. His face was quite pale, and he had deep purple circles under his eyes. Ted kneeled down beside Liam.

"What happened?" Ted asked.

"He's a muggle. Alistar bit him on the last full moon. He's not doing well." Liam replied gravely.

"But it's already been a couple of weeks since the last full moon," said Ted. "Shouldn't the kid have recovered from the bites by now, or, you know, died?" Ted hated sounding so insensitive. Many muggles couldn't survive werewolf bites, but some could. The werewolves needed more man power, they had no choice but to turn muggles.

"Unfortunately this poor guy is still suffering for some reason. I've been taking care of him as best as I can, but I don't know what more I can do." Liam looked at the boy with concern. "I'm about to change his band aids, why don't you help me out?"

Ted nodded. Liam handed Ted a bowl of powdered silver mixed in a paste made from dittany leaves, the standard treatment to heal werewolf bites. Liam carefully removed a bandage from the boy's stomach, revealing a large bloody werewolf bite. Ted gingerly applied a fresh layer of the paste to the boy's stomach. Then Liam tenderly bandaged the wound with a fresh roll of gauze. The two of them worked like this on all of the boy's wounds.

"I wish Alistar hadn't bit him so many times," Liam said in annoyance.

"You know he couldn't control himself. None of us can when we are in werewolf form," Ted pointed out. Liam nodded, frowning. After they finished changing the boy's bandages they sat quietly watching the boy.

After about twenty minutes the boy's eyelids fluttered. He coughed and muttered in a hoarse voice "Mommy."

"Hey, hey, its ok buddy," Liam said in a soothing voice. "You're going to be ok." He picked up a white teddy bear and handed it to the boy. The boy started to sob quietly. Liam rubbed the boy's arm soothingly and tried to keep reassuring him that everything would be alright. Within minutes the boy fell asleep. Liam checked his watch.

"Shit, I have to teach the young batch how to steal while Alistar teaches the older batch dueling spells," Liam said. He removed his hand from the boys arm, and the boy started to sob quietly again. Liam immediately began rubbing him again and the boy abruptly stopped crying.

"It's ok, I'll take care of the kid while you teach," Ted said. Liam looked at the boy worriedly for several seconds.

"Ok. If the kid starts to bleed too much we have a blood replenishing potion in the cabinet. The dose is written on the bottle. If the wound starts oozing green, put on a new layer of the dittany mixture and redress the wound with fresh gauze. If the wound or the skin around the wound starts turning black, then come grab me right away, because we may need to amputate him." Ted looked up at Liam alarmed. "We can use skelegro and fleshgro potions. It won't be as good as a normal limb, but it will be better than not having a limb. If he starts acting rabid or hallucinating, come and get me right away. Although I don't know what we'll do if he gets to that point. I'll come check on you every hour and will be done teaching in three hours."

"Ok," said Ted. The moment Liam stopped stroking the boy's arm the boy began to whimper. Ted immediately took Liam's seat and began stroking the boys arm. His skin was scorching hot. Liam waited for the boy to stop whimpering before he left to go teach the other children.

Ted knew he was doing a decent thing by stroking the boys arm, but he started to feel bored very quickly. Liam's patience with children never failed to impress Ted. He frequently peeked under the boy's bandages to make sure none of the things Liam described would happen. Eventually, out of boredom, Ted started to hum a tune he had heard many years ago.

"Please sing the song," he heard a small female voice croak. The voice was so quiet that Ted was surprised that he even heard it. He glanced over to where the girl with the fever had seemed to have woken up. The nauseous boy was still engrossed in his comic book.

Ted sung whatever lines of the song he could remember. When he was finished the girl clapped. Even the nauseous boy looked up from his comic book.

"Water," Ted heard a voice croak. Ted looked down, alarmed. The bitten boy's eyes were fully open now. "Water," he repeated.

Ted crossed the room to pour the boy a glass of fresh water from the jug kept on the counter. Liam made sure that the dishes in the infirmary were spotless, which meant he had to wash them all himself.

Ted helped the boy sit up and put the water glass to his lips. The boy slowly took the glass in his own hand and drank deeply from it. When he finished he closed his eyes again and Ted continued to stroke his arm.

Liam popped back into the room. "Hey is everything ok?" he asked. Ted checked his watch. Only a half hour had passed since Liam had left the room.

"Yeah everything's fine. The wounds are the same, and the kid woke up to drink some water," Ted said. Liam took a seat next to Ted. "What about your class?"

"Oh come on. Everyone is already pretty much a master thief here. I don't need to teach them anything new. I gave them the afternoon off." Liam stated. "How much water did he drink?"

"This glass," Ted said, holding up the glass.

"Wow, he's been having a lot of trouble eating and drinking anything," Liam stated. "Poor guy just doesn't have the energy to eat or drink, but I wish he would eat and drink more so he could get some energy."

"What has he been eating?" Ted asked.

"Well new werewolves love rare meat, but in his condition he can't really stomach it," Liam explained, frowning. Ted pondered this.

"Have you tried giving him the raw meat in some sort of broth form?" Ted asked.

"That's not a bad idea," Liam said. "It could be easier to digest, and the warmth could sooth him, and help break the fever. Why don't you go make some over the fire, Ted? There's some fresh spinach and ginger and garlic over there too. Throw some of that in too. Make enough for Becky and Ian too, but cook the meat longer for them."

Ted followed Liam's instructions. When he finished he brought a tray with three piping hot bowls to Liam. Liam took a bowl for the boy, and then Ted gave the other bowls to Ian and Becky.

"Come on, you have to eat this. It's the only way you'll feel better," Liam prodded. The boy slowly sipped from the edge of the bowl. Then he began to drink deeply. "Yes! Good boy! You're going to feel great now." The boy removed the bowl from his lips, panting. His brow glistened with sweat. "Great job! You drank it all! High five little man!" The boy lifted his hand with more ease this time to high five Liam. A very small smile tugged at his lips.

"Ted you're a genius! You ought to become a Healer!" Liam exclaimed. Ted snorted.

"Yeah, like they'd ever let a werewolf become a Healer. They think we are diseased freaks ourselves," said Ted.

"Actually I meant over here. We could actually really use a Healer here the way these kids get sick. I try my best to give them the care they need, but I know it's not nearly enough." Liam said sadly. "Maybe you can stay here. There's a couple of extra guest rooms. You could have one."

Ted didn't say anything. "But I understand. You have your mission which is too important for you to not follow through with." Ted nodded in agreement. He almost wished he could stay here and help the sick children. But with his mission he would bring in so many more funds, and so much more man power, so that the conditions for the werewolves would improve tremendously.

Ted stayed with Liam in the infirmary for the rest of the day, and throughout most of the night. The boy's wounds started to look a bit better and he certainly seemed to have more energy. Unfortunately, with the new found energy, he was able to ask about his "mommy" quite a bit more.

Liam told the boy that he was going to have a fun new life now. He would get to play with so many other children his age, eat all the sweets he wanted without anyone stopping him ("Hey they never listen to me when I try to stop them anyway," Liam said when Ted eyed him wearily), learn to fight bad guys, and get lots of new toys (though he forgot to mention that he would be stealing all these new toys).

The boy seemed to cheer up after hearing all of this and asked about his mother less frequently.

At around 2 AM Liam told Ted to go home and get some sleep. Ted told Liam to do the same. Though Ted knew he wouldn't be able to sleep until this boy was better.

"What's your name?" Liam asked the boy as Ted started walking towards the exit.

"Charlie," The boy whispered. Then he fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 7

Ted reached Kings Cross station at 10:30. Not caring about the hundreds of muggles bustling by, he followed Professor Longbottom's instructions and sauntered straight through the divider between Platforms 9 and he emerged he found himself facing a large scarlet train.

Ted lifted his trunk onto the train. He had to remember to use both arms to lift it and pretend that it was actually difficult to carry. He walked past several compartments full of vermin that he would now have to call his classmates, in search of an empty compartment.

As he approached a compartment towards the back he started to feel quite buoyant. He ignored the next few compartments until he reached a compartment that reverberated with loud laughter. Ted peered inside and saw the two girls from Hexes sitting next to a boy. The trio was sitting across two other pretty girls and another boy. Everyone in the compartment seemed to be laughing at a joke Victoire told. Nobody noticed Ted standing outside precariously balancing his heavy trunk on a single palm, staring at Victoire, mesmerized. After several seconds of staring Ted remembered that he needed to actually speak. He decided to turn his hair turquoise to try to impress her again.

"Hey Victoire." Victoire looked up at Ted and a dazzling smile spread across her face and her eyes widened with joy too.

"Who's your friend Victoire?" one of the girls sitting next to Victoire asked. She had light brown skin, large loopy dark brown curls cascading down her back and large eyes that were pools of sea green. She wasn't as beautiful as Victoire and her sister, but she definitely was something special.

"This is Ted, I met him at Hexes," Victoire said.

"Hi, I'm Priyanka," said the girl with the green eyes. She smiled at him and extended her hand outside of the compartment for Ted to shake. Her smile wasn't as dazzling as Victoire's, but it was quite warm and inviting. Ted shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you," said Ted. A few moments of awkward silence went by as no one else introduced themselves to Ted. Finally one of the boys spoke up.

"So, can we help you with something, Todd?" Ted felt safe enough in his masculinity to acknowledge that this boy was incredibly attractive. He had a crisp tan, deep blue eyes, and black hair straight out of a Weasley catalog. He had rolled the sleeves of his robes all the way up to his shoulders to show off his tan muscular arms, like a true douche, Ted thought.

The other boy in the compartment was shorter with large muscles, while the first boy had more lean muscle. The other boy had blonde hair and a tan that matched the first boys. Ted wondered if the two boys had laid out in the sun on one blanket tanning together all summer.

"Ted," Ted corrected. Ted wished he could sit with Victoire, but he wanted to get away from these lofty losers as fast as possible.

"My bad. So what up with the blue hair? Are you like, part peacock or something?" The compartment roared with laughter. The boy flashed a gleaming white grin. Ted wanted to knock his perfect white teeth right out of his mouth.

The boy turned back to the four girls and made a funny remark, probably in reference to the group's previous conversation. The compartment rattled with laughter again. Ted was completely forgotten by the entire group –even Victoire and Priyanka – as they continued to laugh and joke. Victoire spared him one brief glance, then turned her head away and let a platinum curtain of hair fall in front of her face, hiding it from Ted as she joined in the conversation, full-fledged.

Ted stood outside the compartment, feeling more embarrassed than he ever had in his life. The mortification quickly turned to blazing anger. How dare these brainless wizards make him feel like this? He felt the handle of his trunk break in the fist he didn't realize he had been clenching.

 _Calm down_ he told himself. _It will feel amazing to pulverize the morons right now, but in the long run it will ruin everything you worked so hard for._ He took several deep breaths then lifted his trunk and walked away from the idiotic lot that Victoire was a part of. His anger and embarrassment completely barricaded Victoire's Veela charm. What was he thinking, feeling any interest in a stuck up bitch like her? He should have just screwed her then ditched her like Mark had suggested.

Ted continued to fume as he searched for an empty compartment to sit in. Unfortunately he couldn't find a single one. The best he could find was a compartment with only two boys in it. One boy was a small scrawny boy who was deeply engrossed in a textbook. He must have been a second or third year student. The other boy looked about Ted's age. He was a pale blonde boy, with a pointed face, and was deeply engrossed in writing something on a large parchment pad.

"Is it cool if I sit here?" Ted asked the boys. It was outrageous that humans had to ask permission to sit with other humans in the human world. A werewolf would never have to ask permission to sit with other werewolves. The two boys looked up from their work, gave Ted one curt nod each, and then resumed their respective work. Ted placed his trunk into the overhead compartment with one hand. He knew the two boys were too occupied to notice.

Ted chose to sit next to the boy writing on the parchment pad. He was afraid that if he sat next to the scrawny boy he might accidentally send him flying out the window with a cough or a sneeze.

Ted was annoyed that both boys were occupying the window seats. At least he could have laid his head against the window and slept easily. He was exhausted from all the time he'd spent with Liam and Charlie the past few nights. Then again, the pale boy sitting next to him probably needed the window seat more than Ted did, considering how pale he was. Ted glanced over at what the boy was so engrossed in writing. It turned out he wasn't writing; he was drawing. He was drawing a picture of two wizards dueling against each other. One was leaping in the air dodging an attack and the other was firing a bright red spell at him. The drawing was pretty damn good.

"Nice drawing," Ted said.

"Thank you," The boy responded without looking up, but Ted noticed a smile play on his lips.

Ted looked across at the other boy who was reading _Advanced Potion Making_. "Reading a book well beyond your years I see. Impressive," Ted told the boy. The boy finally pulled the book away from his face. He was even paler than the other boy and had dark circles under his eyes, and a deep scowl above them. He also had a long nose.

"What do you mean? I'm in 6th year and I'm reading a 6th year Potions book," said the boy, clearly annoyed. Ted felt embarrassed. But it wasn't his fault these dumb wizards were getting scrawnier by the day.

"Oh sorry," said Ted. "I'm new here."

"Are you new to brain cells?" The boy asked sardonically. Ted couldn't help but smile at the boy's quick wit. It was certainly better than a stupid joke about peacocks that Ted had heard earlier that day. The boy gave Ted a few seconds chance to respond. Ted chose to let it go, so the boy dove back into the book, nose first.

Ted looked back and forth between his dreary companions. This was going to be a long train ride. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but his head kept lolling around on his seat. At some point someone poked him hard in the ribs to wake him up. His neck was aching and his mouth tasted like he had been sucking on someone's dirty socks. He opened his eyes to look at a plump woman's face.

"Anything off the trolley, dear?" Ted looked around and saw sweets piled up next to the other two boys. The sight made Ted's stomach growl. He hadn't eaten anything that morning in his rush to get out the door, and he had a werewolf appetite. He was thankful that Liam had packed him all those sandwiches.

Ted bought a small pack of spearmint flavored Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. The lady charged an outrageous price of two sickles for the small pack of gum, but Ted needed it for the taste in his mouth. After she left, Ted pulled his bag of sandwiches out of the side compartment of his trunk. He pulled out some toad food and slipped it into Sparky's tank before sitting back down.

Liam packed eight venison sandwiches with mayonnaise. He threw in a bag of pickles. He must not have had time to put them in the sandwiches. Ted dug into the eight sandwiches happily. He forced himself to eat neatly in front of his company. He offered each of them a sandwich. They looked at him as if he were offering them a dead raccoon. Ted shrugged and continued to eat.

After Ted ate the eight sandwiches, he popped a piece of gum in his mouth and offered a piece to his compartment buddies, the silent brothers. The silent brothers each took a piece of gum, shocker, silently.

"Do you guys know how to talk?" Ted asked. The boys nodded. Ted rolled his eyes. The boy reading the potions textbook smirked.

"Maybe if you had something interesting to talk about, maybe we would talk," he said.

"Why don't we talk about why you're a sulky, little, emo nerd who likes reading Potions textbooks?" Ted countered.

"Because the words of the Potions textbook are more interesting than any words I've ever heard come out of the mouths of Hogwarts students over the last five years," The boy replied dryly. Ted couldn't help but like his sarcasm.

"I've only been around Hogwarts students for a few hours, but based on what I've heard so far, I can fully trust what you just said," Ted said. The boy smirked. "I'm Ted by the way."

"Simon," The boy said with a wave.

"What's your name, Picasso?" Ted asked the other boy. The boy looked up from his artwork, though Ted could tell he hadn't been drawing during the entire conversation.

"Leo. And no offense, but you two are weird," said the boy, but he was smiling in a good natured way. "And by the way thanks for noticing my artwork. You're probably the first person at Hogwarts to ever have noticed it." Ted smiled.

"What year are you in?" Ted asked Leo.

"Fifth."

"Oh ok," Ted said then after a pause asked "Do you know Victoire?"

"Everyone at Hogwarts knows Victoire," Leo stated matter-of-factly. "She's the most beautiful creature to have ever graced the halls of Hogwarts. I'd give anything to draw her naked. Why do you ask about her?"

Ted hesitated. "I met her a couple of weeks ago at Hexes. We danced and she got me a drink, and she seemed really cool." At that moment Simon put his book down and Leo set his parchment pad and quill aside, and both boys leaned in closer to hear what Ted was saying.

"No way," said Leo.

"She danced with you?" said Simon.

"And bought you a drink?" said Leo.

"No way," said Simon.

"When it comes to girls, I don't lie," said Ted. "But then when I met her on the train today she was kind of, well, a bitch."

"Now that sounds more like Victoire," said Simon.

"I don't get what caused the change in behavior," said Ted. He didn't know why he was complaining about a dumb girl to these guys. But these guys seemed pretty cool…for wizards. "I mean one minute she seems really cool, and the next minute she's hanging out with a couple of guys with a combined IQ less than my left foot."

"Ah, Jason and Neil, I like to call them Victoire and Dominique's box of tampons. They are obsessed with the girls and follow them around Hogwarts like lost puppies. Victoire and Dominique pretty much just use them like tampons," said Simon.

"Who's Dominique?" Ted asked.

"Victoire's sister," Simon replied. Ted always forgot about Victoire's sister even though she had the same killer looks and Veela charm.

"I don't know," said Leo. "They've been hanging out with those guys for years now. They seem like a group of best friends."

"No way. They've been trying to hook up with the girls for all these years, but the girls won't give them a chance. They just want guys who will follow them around laughing at all of their jokes and agreeing with everything they say, but they seem to think they are too good to date any of them. Mind you, despite the fact that they are total bitches, they are too good to date any of those brainless losers," said Simon.

"Why do you guys think they're bitches?" Ted asked, not that he was disagreeing with them.

"Because they only talk to people who they think are cool or good looking enough to talk to them," said Leo. "Let me break down their gang for you. There's Priyanka and Gwen. They are the most beautiful girls in fourth and fifth year, after Dominique and Victoire of course. Then there's Neil and Jason. They're both prefects for Ravenclaw and Gryffindor."

"What's a Gryffindor?" Ted asked. But Leo was already on a roll.

"Plus Jason is the Captain and Seeker of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and Neil is the leader of the Art Sector of Montage."

"Montage?" asked Ted. Leo ignored him.

"And they're both at the top of their class."

"I wouldn't say they're at the top of their class," Simon said bitterly.

"Are they in sixth year too?" Ted asked.

"Yup," said Simon.

"Great, I'll have to see their ugly faces in all of my classes," Ted grimaced.

"Wait, you're in sixth year too? Why have I never seen you before? Did you transfer from Drumstrang?" asked Simon. Ted fed Simon and Leo the story about how he was homeschooled all these years but wanted a change. Ted was glad that they were no longer talking about Victoire's tampons.

"It was a good idea to join Hogwarts during the N.E.W.T years. It will open you up to better career opportunities," said Simon.

"Uh-huh," said Ted flippantly. Joining Hogwarts sure was going to open Ted up to great career opportunities, as the supreme ruler over wizards. Ted would have to remember to give these guys high positions in the new world order, well, as high as he could give to wizards.

"Dude, you were better off being homeschooled," said Leo. "Hogwarts sucks."

"Why do you say that?" said Simon.

"Come on, you yourself said all the students are idiots," said Leo.

"Yeah they pretty much are," said Simon. "But we get a great opportunity to learn magic at Hogwarts."

"True. But Ted is a lucky bastard who has parents who can teach him magic at home," said Leo. "I wish I had that."

"Are your parents muggles?" Simon asked. Ted found it funny that these boys had been sitting in the same compartment in a train for hours, and were just now starting to get to know each other thanks to Ted.

"My mom is," said Leo. "My dad is a bastard who knocked up my mom, told her he would help her take care of me, asked her to name me after a constellation because of some stupid tradition in his family, and then ditched her. Then I found out I was a wizard like my father. I was excited and thought maybe my father was a cool guy after all. Then when I came to Hogwarts, everyone hated me because apparently my father worked for a dark wizard a long time ago, and somehow everyone at Hogwarts knew."

"Who was your father?" Ted asked.

"Draco Malfoy."


	9. Chapter 8

Leo made a face as if the name was a piece of old hair he had just pulled out of his mouth. Ted actually knew about this boy's origins. In fact if it hadn't been for Greyback this boy probably would not exist.

Draco Malfoy was a servant when the Dark Lord Voldemort ruled the Wizarding world. Greyback made an alliance with the Dark Lord in exchange for children to bite. The Dark Lord also invited Greyback to stay at his headquarters, which happened to be Draco Malfoy's home. At some point Draco Malfoy had done something to piss off the Dark Lord, so he was always scared and on edge.

Greyback took Malfoy out for a night on the town to help him relax. He took Malfoy to a bar and got him shit-faced. Then he told Malfoy that the alcohol would only make him feel good for one night, but sex would make him feel better a lot longer. He must have been pretty drunk to bang a muggle, because all of the servants of the Dark Lord were completely prejudiced to muggles. So now here Ted was talking to the product of Draco Malfoy's one night stand.

"Has your father contacted you and your mother at all?" Simon asked.

"Well he felt guilty enough to buy us a two bedroom flat, but other than that he hasn't even spoken to my mother. He got married a few years later. When I got my Hogwarts letter he sent me some gifts; 100 galleons, an owl, and a Nimbus 2500. But I don't even like flying," said Leo. Ted looked up at the large grey and white owl in the over head compartment. It was certainly a handsome bird. Also a Nimbus 2500 was a top racing broom which must have cost Draco Malfoy a fortune. "After my first year he sent me ten galleons every birthday and ten galleons every Christmas."

"That's not bad," said Ted.

"He's my father," Leo said bitterly. "He's never bothered to meet me even once. He's also rich as hell, so twenty galleons a year is nothing for him. He doesn't care about me because I'm born from a muggle mother."

Leo decided to look out the window and not talk anymore. Ted had guessed that Leo had never told anyone any of this, and felt quite embarrassed and irritated with himself now.

"It's not so bad," Ted tried to say. He wasn't sure why he was trying to cheer up this sulky teenage wizard. "At least you have your mother. Did she ever marry someone else?"

"Yes. She married a muggle and had a daughter with him five years later, then a son two years after that. They make a picture perfect muggle family, and I'm their weird teenage wizard son," Leo complained.

"Hey at least you're not as scrawny as Simon," Ted said with a grin, trying to lighten the mood.

"You'd be scrawny too if your internal organs vanished whenever you used too much magic," Simon said indignantly.

"What do you mean?" Ted asked. Leo forgot his sulking for a moment and looked away from the window and at Simon. His frown turned into a look of concern.

"I suffer from chronic vanishing sickness," Simon explained. "It's a genetic disorder. My grandfather had it and it skipped a generation to me. For some reason whenever I use too much magic my internal organs vanish. They always reappear in less than an hour, but whenever I lose a kidney or my liver I get sick until it comes back. And I have to wear a stupid looking helmet and chest plate whenever I want to use magic, in order to prevent my brain and heart from vanishing. Everyone thinks I'm a freak in class. It's a horrible disease. It hinders my ability to use magic so much. I definitely know more than Jason and Neil, but they get better marks than me because they don't have to be afraid to use magic because of a stupid disease."

"I'm sorry man," Leo said quietly. Suddenly his daddy issues seemed insignificant.

"Well it isn't all bad. My dad is an Auror and my mom is the head of the Department of Magical Transportation in the Ministry of Magic so they are pretty loaded," said Simon, and then added bitterly, "I think they engrossed themselves with work so they wouldn't have to think about their poor ill son."

"Well at least you're rich," Ted said with a small smile. Both boys decided to look out the window again. Ted felt pretty awkward now that these two strangers just poured their hearts out to him. But he really felt bad for both of their situations. He also realized that neither of these boys had any friends, which is why they had to find the most empty compartment to sit in.

Ted suddenly felt angry. These stupid wizards shunned them because, in Leo's case, who his parents were, and in Simon's case, because of a disease. Both boys had no control over these things, but none of the stupid wizards could understand. They were obviously both very talented: Leo with his art work and Simon with his obvious intelligence. Both boys were funny too. Anyone would be lucky to have them as friends.

Ted pulled his trunk down from the over head compartment and rummaged through it. He pulled out his deck of Exploding Snaps cards, then heaved the trunk back into the overhead compartment.

"Dude do you drink musclegrow potions or something?" Leo asked. "You lift that trunk as if it was a plate of rice cakes." Ted grinned.

"Alright, now that I know you two are loaded, let's play some exploding snaps," Ted said as he weaved the deck between his fingers. Whenever he played Exploding Snaps with werewolves they always bet money.

The boys spent the rest of the train ride laughing and playing Exploding Snaps. When the sky was fully dark outside the window Ted started to feel buoyant. By now he was able to recognize this feeling as Veela charm. Ted focused hard on the feelings of anger and embarrassment that he had felt last time he saw Victoire.

Victoire popped inside the compartment. "Hello Ted," She flashed her dazzling smile.

 _Peacocks_ , Ted told himself. _Peacocks._

"Can I help you with something?" Ted asked Victoire in the same condescending tone Jason had used with Ted. Victoire seemed taken aback. She tried to turn up the Veela charm. _Peacocks!_ Ted shouted to himself.

"Sorry about earlier, I was busy with my friends," she said.

 _Busy being a bitch_ , thought Ted.

"But we should definitely hang out at Hogwarts," Victoire said. She flashed her smile at all three boys in the compartment. Ted thought her white teeth would blind him. "See you around." She left the compartment gracefully.

When she was out of earshot Ted muttered, "Yeah, see you around you two-faced bitch."


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 5: The Feast

The train came to a halt. Simon and Leo got out of their seats. Ted reached for his trunk.

"Don't worry, someone will take care of the trunks," Leo said. Ted didn't like the idea of the Hogwarts staff handling his things, but he knew he had no choice but to allow them to.

Ted followed Leo and Simon off of the train. He felt disoriented from sitting in the train for so long.

"First years! First years!" a voice called. The voice sounded so far away due to how much his ears popped on the train. Ted hated all forms of travel, other than his own two feet.

"You probably have to go with the first years," Simon said. He gestured to a large man holding a lantern and several small wizards gathered around him. _Of course_ , Ted thought bitterly. He joined the group of small wizards surrounding the large man. When Ted got closer he could tell by the man's smell that he was a giant. All of the small wizards stared at Ted.

"I said firs' years only," The giant said.

"It is my first year at Hogwarts so I believe that would make me a first year," Ted replied. A first year boy whispered something to his friends and they snickered in response. Ted imagined himself lifting the boy, squashing him into the shape of a ball, and rolling him into his friends. He shook his head to clear the image from his mind.

"Oh, uh, alrigh'" said the giant. "Everyone follow me!" He bellowed to the group. Ted felt his ear pop again. He followed the giant with the group of young wizards. He had to catch a few who tripped on tree branches and stumbled on slippery rocks. Wizards were so clumsy.

After a short walk they reached the edge of a large lake. Ted looked around for the bridge to cross but couldn't find one. The water began to bubble and several small boats emerged from the lake.

"Everyone climb aboard," The giant yelled. _You have got to be kidding me_ , thought Ted. He climbed into a tiny boat after a group of first years. There was hardly any leg room for Ted. The young wizards starred at Ted the entire boat ride.

"What a scenic journey," Ted said to the group he was sharing a boat with. "You guys sure are missing out by staring at me." All of the kids immediately looked away from Ted. But every few seconds they peaked at Ted out of the corner of their eyes, then looked away quickly. Ted rolled his eyes. Why did wizards have to stare at someone who was different than them?

After the boats crossed the lake the giant helped the students off the boat and led them to a magnificent castle. _Maybe this won't be so bad after all_ , Ted thought. Then a snot-nosed first year accidently stumbled into Ted. Ted resisted the urge to toss him into the lake.

When they entered the castle a woman in emerald green robes was waiting for them. Her face was incredibly stern. If Liam were there Ted would have whispered in his ear, _she probably has a wand up her ass_ , and the pair would have a good laugh. Ted smiled at the thought.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," the woman said in a voice that equaled the sternness of her face. "I am Professor McGonagall, I am the Head Mistress of Hogwarts, and I would like to take this time to personally escort you to the Great Hall. But first I would like to tell you more about Hogwarts." She droned on about some boring information about Hogwarts, and then said something about a sorting ceremony then a feast. Ted perked up when he heard the word feast. He was starving.

He happily followed the other wizards into a large room. The room did not contain a roof, so Ted could see twinkling stars. It would be quite pleasant to dine under the night sky, Ted thought. In the room there were five long tables lined with silverware. Students sat at four of the tables and professors sat at the fifth table. Ted was ready to take an empty seat at one of the student tables, but for some reason, Professor McGonagall led them away from the tables and to a stool which had an ugly hat covered in suture lines sitting on it. A row of stitches ripped open into the shape of a mouth and the hat began to sing:

 _Welcome one and all_

 _To the greatest magical school_

 _I may just be a hat_

 _But I can promise I'm no fool_

 _For I have been entrusted_

 _To give you all a home_

 _And a close knit circle_

 _With whom you will always roam_

 _You may find a home in Gryffindor_

 _Where the courageous hearts lay_

 _There heroic deeds inspire awe_

 _And from danger they never stray_

 _Or a family in Ravenclaw_

 _Where the clever and witty are found_

 _They can solve any challenge of the mind_

 _For they are the brightest lot around_

 _You may form bonds in Hufflepuff_

 _Amongst the fair and kind at heart_

 _They are accepting of all people_

 _And make loyalty seem like an art_

 _Or you may belong with Slytherins_

 _The lot of ambitious and cunning ones_

 _Their achievements may seem atrocious_

 _But are among the greatest under the sun_

 _Now I will complete the great task_

 _The duty for which I've been sewn_

 _And know there's nothing from me you can mask_

 _For as soon as you put me on_

 _I will know all of what lies in your head_

 _And set you on the path that you belong_

So the wizards had found another way to be vile. They segregated the wizards based on their personalities. So what if a smart wizard wanted to hang out with a kind wizard? Or a cunning wizard wanted to hang out with a brave wizard?

"Abrams, David," Professor McGonagall called out. A very small boy shuffled forward and sat on the stool. Professor McGonagall placed the hat on his head.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted after a minute. The students at the side table burst into applause and the boy took a seat at the table.

"Adams Ian," Professor McGonagall announced. She was going in alphabetical order. A boy, even smaller than the previous one, stepped forward.

This time the hat barely touched his head before shouting out "RAVENCLAW!"

Then a horrible thought struck Ted. The hat said: _For as soon as you put me on your head I will know all that lies within._ What if the hat realized Ted's plans? What if this whole sorting ceremony was a façade and the truth was that the hat was a security measure to find out if a student intended to harm the school or not? What a brilliant security scheme. Surely wizards weren't that brilliant, Ted tried to reassure himself. Even if it wasn't a security system would the hat realize Ted's plans? Would the hat be able to inform the professors about the contents of his mind? Ted felt his throat swell up with anger. What right did these awful wizards have to invade the private sanctity of Ted's mind? This should be considered a crime by the Ministry of Magic!

"Patel, Vijay," Called Professor McGonagall. It was almost Ted's turn.

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat bellowed. The boy scurried off to the Ravenclaw table. A beautiful girl flashed a dazzling smile at the boy, and Ted could almost hear the blood rush to his dick. It was Victoire. " _Where the clever and witty are found/They can solve any challenge of the mind /They are clearly the brightest lot around,_ the hat's voice echoed in Ted's mind. Well the hat couldn't be that good at his job if it put Victoire in Ravenclaw. Victoire must have thought the same thing, because although her mouth was smiling, her eyes and body language screamed that she didn't feel like she belonged at the table.

"Excuse me, but is there a Rowland, Nathaniel here?" said Professor McGonagall sharply. The students who remained to be sorted, and several students at the tables, were murmuring. Ted felt his face and strands of his hair turn scarlet. He stepped forward towards the stools and tried to force his hair to stay the black color he had chosen today, but to no avail. At least the scarlet color was only streaking his hair, instead of turning completely scarlet, despite the snickering he heard from several students.

The professor scowled as Ted took a seat on the stool, but Ted was grateful that she didn't say anything. She dropped the hat on his head and the hat fell over his eyes, completely covering them, so that all he saw was blackness.

 _Hmmm_ , the voice of the hat said in his mind. _A tricky one. Braver than you appear, smarter than anyone would think, and kinder than you could ever imagine_ , _but where do you belong?_

 _Ha! As if a silly hat can determine who I am and where I belong?_ Ted thought scornfully.

 _Ah, but it's all hear inside your head_ , the hat's voice stated matter-of-factly.

 _So what if it is?_ thought Ted. _Does that mean these ridiculous parameters should dictate who I should spend my time with?_

 _Of course it shouldn't._ The hat said. _In fact, with the dark times that are approaching, the students of Hogwarts need to be united now more than ever. And I believe you will be very instrumental in saving the school from the dangers that lie ahead. In order to help you in the right direction I will place you in:_

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat shouted. The hat was pulled off his head and the hall was filled with half-hearted cheering and applause, which Ted hardly noticed. Ted felt streaks of his hair turn yellow with shock from the words of the Sorting Hat. The cheering of the crowd increased dramatically.

Ted walked numbly to the Hufflepuff table where several students introduced themselves and shook his hand. Ted nodded and smiled slightly at the students as they introduced themselves, but he wasn't paying attention at all. What had the hat meant when he said that dark times were ahead? And how could he believe Ted would be "instrumental" in saving the school, when he in fact was _infiltrating_ the school? Perhaps the hat saw the nobility in the plight of the werewolves.

"That was a great trick, turning your hair the colors of Hufflepuff," said a familiar voice near Ted.

Ted looked up to see the beaming face of Leo. Ted couldn't help but smile back. Leo sat down in the empty seat next to him.

"I'm glad you're in Hufflepuff. I'm glad I have a friend with me now," said Leo. "Not that I didn't have any friends before." Ted felt better to have Leo with him too.

The last student was sorted, and then Professor McGonagall took her seat at the head of the table of professors. She blabbed about several rules about the school for what seemed like ages. Ted heard something about a forbidden forest. He would have to check that out for sure. Then he heard the words he had been waiting to hear, "Let the feast begin."

Suddenly the table filled with dishes piled with several different food items. Ted watched students help themselves to anything and everything, and nobody seemed to care how much food anyone took. There certainly was a lot, but what if, by some fluke, there wasn't enough?

"Aren't you hungry?" Leo asked as he drizzled gravy over his mashed potatoes.

"Yes. So do we just take whatever we want? What if the food runs out?" Ted asked uncertainly. Leo laughed.

"Food never runs out at Hogwarts. If any dish becomes empty it magically refills itself. So don't be shy. Eat until there's gravy coming out of your ears," said Leo.

That was all the invitation that Ted needed. He piled his plate with some of every dish. And then he piled three more times. He had never eaten so much food in his life. Ted was so lost in the meal that he completely forgot about the troubling things the Sorting Hat had said to him.

As a werewolf Ted had to struggle to get whatever food he could get, and no matter how hard he tried, he never seemed to be able to get enough. In the early days at the werewolf headquarters sometimes the werewolf children had to skip meals, because the werewolves didn't have the resources to provide the kids with food. After a few years of hard work Liam was able to change the conditions, so now the children never went without a meal. It was kind of the school to provide this much food for the children, though Ted was a bit surprised that none of the students seemed morbidly obese.

This food was also much more delicious than anything Ted had ever eaten in his life. Ted wished Liam and Mark could be here with him to enjoy this food. When Ted couldn't eat another bite all the food disappeared. Then the table filled with deserts: platters of rich chocolate and butter cream cakes, bowls of ice cream in every flavor, plates of mouth watering pies, and tarts. Ted didn't know where to begin. Again, he took some of every desert.

After desert all of the dishes disappeared. Professor McGonagall announced that it was time to go to bed. She said that first year students should follow their house prefects to the dorm room. Ted looked around for some Hufflepuff first years, or for some prefects.

"You don't have to go with the first years," said Leo. "I know where the dorms are, I'll take you." Ted felt grateful. It was so awkward to have to travel with the younger kids, and he was afraid that he might strangle the next student who laughed at him for traveling with younger kids.

"When I was sorted into Hufflepuff my dad sent me a letter of congratulations, but from the tone of the letter I could tell he wasn't pleased," said Leo who sounded very pleased. "He was in Slytherin. People talk shit about Hufflepuff students being dorks, but at least they don't say half as bad things about Hufflepuffs that they say about Slytherins. Slytherin is full of psychopaths, and half of them and their moms become dark Wizards."

"Don't listen to this prat," a voice said from behind him. Ted turned to see Simon.

"Ok I have to admit, there is one Slytherin who doesn't need a psychiatrist, Simon Shacklebolt," said Leo.

"What's a psychiatrist? Is that what Hufflepuffs' call their imaginary girlfriends? Hufflepuffs' are known to have imaginary girlfriends. They are also known to wet the bed," said Simon.

"Your last name is Shacklebolt?" Ted asked.

"Yup, I'm related to the Minister of Magic himself. He's my father's second cousin, so I don't what the hell that makes him to me," Simon explained.

 _Did Simon have to ruin their friendship by being related to the retched Minster of Magic?_ thought Ted. Maybe Ted could use it to his advantage later on somehow.

"I better get to my dorm. Later," said Simon.

"Later," said Leo with a wave goodbye.

Ted followed Leo out of the Great Hall and down a stone staircase. They reached a large wooden door carved with intricate designs. Leo turned the crystal doorknob and the door swung opened.

"All of the other houses have passwords to enter the common room, and Ravenclaw has a riddle," Leo explained. "But not Hufflepuff, Helga Hufflepuff wanted everyone to be welcome." Ted didn't know who the hell this Helga Hufflepuff was, but it sure was a nice sentiment on her part.

They entered a large room filled with comfy black leather couches and tables; there were some plants in the corners. Leo plopped down on a couch and Ted followed suit. Ted could smell the remnants of the feast from this room.

"The kitchen is literally right down the hall," said Leo, as if he read Ted's mind. "We get to wake up to the smell of fresh cooked waffles every morning, even fresh baked doughnuts." Leo said dreamily.

"Dude you're getting drool on the couch," said Ted. Leo rolled his eyes. They chatted idly for a while then Leo got up to show Ted the dormitories'.

Ted followed Ted down a staircase on the left side of the room. A matching staircase was on the right side of the room. "That's the way to the girls' dorms," Leo explained.

Leo showed him to a door which said **6** **th** **year students.**

"I'm in fifth year so I'll be in that room," said Leo pointing to the room next door. "Good night."

"Good night," said Ted. He entered the room and saw four other boys sleeping in the room. _Great. This enormous castle probably has like half a million rooms in it, but they make five people share one room,_ thought Ted bitterly.

All of his things had been brought down and placed next to the only empty four poster bed in the room. Ted tried to check if they had opened his trunk and searched it. But the trunk was latched and when Ted opened it everything seemed to be in its place.

Ted opened Sparky's tank and threw in some toad food. Then he climbed into bed. He was so full from the feast, and his bed was so large and comfy, that he immediately fell asleep.

He woke up feeling refreshed, and to the smell of blue berry muffins and hash browns, in the morning.


End file.
